Chapter 12

The book defines attitudes as the evaluation of objects, events, or ideas. There are several ways we require attitudes the first is by familiarity. We gain this by being exposed to something frequently, like foods in your culture. Also through classical conditioning we gain attitudes based on associations we have made between objects, such as a celebrity endorsing a popular shoe brand. Operant conditioning contributes too if you receive a reward every time you do something your more likely to keep doing it. We also develop attitudes based on society, for example for many westerners wouldn't eat a snail but in France its considered a delicacy. Attitudes can be changed and the theory of cognitive dissonance tells us why we might do it in some cases. The Festinger & Carlsmith experiment showed that people change their attitudes to explain their behavior. It showed that if we want to change attitudes we have to get them to do something inconsistent with their normal behavior. Attributions are peoples casual explanations for why events or actions occur. Experiments have found that people tend to be systematically bias in their processing information. They tend to make attributions consistent with what they previously believed. We are not always accurate in our attributions because of biases we have. Stereotypes are cognitive schemas that allow for fast and easy processing of information about people based on their membership in certain groups. According to the self fulfilling prophecy people tend to behave in ways that match their own or others expectations. They cause us to have different views on situations, for example the experiment where men where shown a picture of the woman they were on the phone with. The men that were shown a picture of an attractive woman reported her to be more sociable, poised, and humorous then the men presented with an unattractive photo. There are several ways to get rid of stereotypes and the prejudices that may come with them. One study showed boys at different summer camps competing in athletic events. The competition created some tension and hostility between the groups. After they had to do cooperative activities and started to make friends from different groups. So a great way to get rid of stereotypes and prejudices between groups is to make them work together on a goal. When people are put in certain situations their behavior is very predictive based on their attitude. For example in politics if a person is a democrat it is likely that in the election they will vote for a fellow democrat. There are two types of attitudes implicit and explicit. Explicit you know and are able to report to other people, such liking football or not. Implicit you are unaware because they are at the unconscious level, such as purchasing a product endorsed by a celebrity but being unaware of that fact. Personal attributions are defined as explanations that refer to internal characteristics, such as abilities, traits, moods, and effort. They help shape our personalities and make us individualized. Jigsaw classrooms are designed to involve person to person interactions. Studies have shown this leads to more positive attitudes toward other races when this is used.